Kollwitz is oft cited as the most celebrated German female artist. her hands and feet capture the essence of the plight of the everyday human endeavor. she was discovered on a trip to Berlin, at the Neue Wache, with Haake's 4x version of her Pietà (Mutter mit totem Sohn), 1937-39.  in this work, the faces and hands capture grief and love, and instantly portray a story of those that sacrifice in war and conflict.  Mary and Elizabeth, 1928, is considered one of her finest woodcuts, and perhaps one of her more uplifting moments in envisoning the "solemn and holy" faces out of the darkness of filed softwood.  but the eyes are drawn again to the hands, which palm the anticipated comings as depicted in Luke 1:41.